1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for providing device information via a network, and more particularly, to an apparatus for providing information on the devices in a home network through a communication network and a method thereof. The present application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2002-13168, filed on Mar. 12, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Domestic devices can be divided into an information devices group such as a personal computer, a fax machine, a scanner, and a printer, an A/V devices group such as a television, a set-top box, a DVD, a VCR, an audio system, a camcorder, and a domestic game system, a control devices group such as a coffee maker, an electric rice cooker, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a microwave oven, and a camera, and a dummy devices group such as a remote controller, an interphone, a sensor, and a lighting device. These devices are connected to a sub-network incorporating a communication means such as a telephone line, a wireless LAN, a blue tooth, USB, IEEE1394, and a power line according to each category.
FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a general home-network structure.
Referring to FIG. 1, a telephone 120a, a notebook computer 120b, a fax machine 120c and a computer 120d are connected with the telephone line 120, and these form an independent network. A notebook computer 130a and a PDA 130b are connected with the wireless LAN or the blue tooth network 130. A computer 140a, a printer 140b and a scanner 140c are connected with the USB network 140. The IEEE1394 150 is a communication protocol for A/V devices and a television 150a, a camcorder 150b and an audio system 150c are connected to it. Control devices such as a coffee maker 160a, an electric rice cooker 160b, a refrigerator 160c, and a washing machine 160d are connected with a power line 160. These sub-networks 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 are all mutually connected through connection devices 170 such as a bridge and construct a home-network 100. A gateway 110 has a function as a path connecting the devices in the sub-network to the external networks.
However, since the conventional home-network 100 uses existing networks such as a telephone line and a power line, and new networks such as a blue tooth network and a wireless LAN together and these devices are operated in different hardware and software platforms, it is not easy to form a home-network using a single system. Accordingly, as a method of structuring a home-network, suggested is a common virtual computing environment called a middleware residing between an application program and a computer operating system or a network operating system.
Currently, various types of middleware structure are suggested for a home-network. The main structures are control structures using a Peer to Peer method, Java object transmission method, and a particular network media function. However, in regard to the first and the second methods, while it is possible to control devices it is difficult to provide a control function with respect to the whole home network. In addition, the structure using the particular network media function is the structure not for the home network service with respect to all domestic devices but for a home sub network service with respect to particular devices.
Meanwhile, these middleware structures cannot provide services through the internet with each function. If such middleware structures are adapted, a converting device or converting software is required for converting the data structure in the middle to provide services via the internet. However, they only provide a communication function via the internet. Hence, it is not possible to provide the home network information or the information on the devices in the home network to the user's device connected to the internet, and to provide the services requested from the user's device based on the provided information.